Olympics: France Shows Fight, but Czechia’s Depth Prevails in Milan

 

Czechia overcame a second-period scare to defeat France 6-3 on Friday to pick up their first win of the Olympic preliminary round at Santagiulia Arena. After Czechia jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, France fought back in the second, stunning the Czechs with three straight goals - Louis Boudon netting two - to take a 3-2 lead. However, the deficit was short-lived, as David Pastrnak buried a clutch equalizer before Matěj Stránský reclaimed the lead for good. In the third period, Czechia finally pulled away with two goals to seal the victory. It was a resilient showing for the French, but Czechia's offense proved to be too much in the end. Czechia looks to keep the momentum rolling heading into Sunday's matchup against Switzerland, while France looks to earn their first win when they face Team Canada.

France Lineup:

Treille - Bellemare - Texier

Rech - Ritz - Perret

Fabre - Dair - Bertrand

Addamo - Da Costa - Bozon

Auvitu - Thiry

Crinon - Guebey

Boscq - Cantagallo

Neckar

Junca

Czechia Lineup:

Necas - Hertl - Pastrnak

Palat - Kampf - Kase

Cervenka - Sedlak - Tomasek

Stranksy - Faksa - Kubalik

Simek - Hronek

Kempny - Gudas

Spacek - Rutta

Vladar

Vejmelka

To get things started in the opening 20, Martin Necas found the back of the net to get Czechia on the board first for a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal. Michal Kempny scored to increase the lead to 2-0 later on in the first period, putting a slap shot behind Martin Neckar from inside the blue line with 6:56 on the clock.

Louis Boudon put in France's first goal of the tournament, scoring a power-play goal early in the second at 18:59 off a rebound of a shot by Stéphane Da Costa, pulling France within 2-1. At 15:56, Boudon knotted it up 2-2 after creating a turnover in the defensive zone to go on to score on a 2-on-1 with Charles Bertrand. Just 1:50 after the first two French tallies, Hugo Gallet took a pass from Bertrand, who got the puck from Boudon, to get another one past Dan Vladar, giving France their first lead of the game, 3-2. After trying a wraparound to tie things back up, David Pastrnak then scored on his second attempt to make it 3-3 at 6:37, and with just seconds on the clock, Matěj Stránský reclaimed the lead for Czechia, 4-3. He took a stretch pass from Filip Hronek, created a 3-on-0, handed it over to Radek Faksa, who returned the pass, and he buried it with a short-handed goal with France caught in a line change on the power play.

Early in the third frame, Filip Chlapik gave Czechia a 5-3 lead at 18:55 before Roman Cervenka scored a breakaway goal at 18:07 for the 6-3 final. After that sixth Czechia tally, Julian Junca took Neckar's place between the pipes for the remainder of the game.

Notes:

- Dan Vladar made a total of nine saves for Czechia.

- Before being replaced, Martin Neckar allowed six goals on 26 shots. Taking his place in net, Julian Junca made 13 saves.

- David Pastrnak, Martin Necas, Michal Kempny, and Matěj Stránský each recorded a goal and an assist.

- Louis Boudon recorded two goals and an assist for France (0-0-2-0), which is playing in its first Olympics since 2002 (Salt Lake City) and is still seeking its first win since the 1998 Nagano Games.

- This is the first Olympic meeting with NHL players between Team France and Team Czechia.

- Nečas scored Czechia’s first goal of the tournament 5:56 into the first period - their 10th-fastest goal to open an Olympic game with NHL players and their fastest since Aleš Hemský (4:31 on Feb. 19, 2014).

- Pastrnak had a hand in the opening goal. His 49 assists with the Bruins are the most ever by a Czech player entering an Olympic break. ...The Bruins forward (1-1--2) scored his first of the Olympics to tie the game. He recently moved past Patrik Eliáš for the second-most goals in NHL history by a Czech player, behind Jaromír Jágr. ...Pastrnak (1-1--2) was one of five Czech players with a multi-point game. The last Czech player with more points in an Olympic game with NHL players was Marek Židlický (0-3 on Feb. 19, 2010), now an assistant coach behind the bench.

- Louis Boudon scored France’s first goal in an Olympic game with NHL players since Maurice Rozenthal (Feb. 14, 2002). ...Boudon struck twice in 3:03 to tie the game - the fastest two goals by a French player in an Olympic game with NHL players, breaking Philippe Bozon’s 3:17 mark (Feb. 13, 2002).

- France scored three times in 4:53 to erase a two-goal deficit. They aimed to become the fourth team with a multi-goal comeback win in an Olympic game with NHL players, joining Finland (Feb. 27, 2010 vs. SVK), Russia (Feb. 15, 1998 vs. FIN), and Kazakhstan (Feb. 7, 1998 vs. ITA).

- Stránský scored shorthanded to give Czechia a 4-3 lead, becoming the fifth Czech player with a shorthanded goal in an Olympic game with NHL players, joining Patrik Eliáš, Martin Ručinský, Vinny Prospal, and Pavel Patera.

- Filip Chlapík and Roman Červenka scored 48 seconds apart to make it 6-3. It was Czechia’s third-fastest two goals in an Olympic game with NHL players, behind 0:29 (Feb. 18, 2014) and 0:45 (Feb. 24, 2006).

- Czechia earned its first Olympic win with NHL players since Feb. 18, 2014 (5-3 vs. Slovakia in the Sochi qualification playoffs). ...It was Czechia’s third comeback win in an Olympic game with NHL players (also Feb. 15, 2006, and Feb. 18, 1998).

- Czechia scored six goals in an Olympic game with NHL players for the third time (Feb. 15, 2002, and Feb. 15, 1998).

- Czechia became the third team to have a shorthanded goal stand as the game-winner in an Olympic game with NHL players, joining Germany (Feb. 9, 2002) and Canada (Feb. 16 & Feb. 13, 1998).